Major police abuse in Kalmykia

Vitalii Elkuyev, chief of criminal investigation in the capital of Kalmykia, Elista, and his three subordinates beat David Ilyumzhinov, the son of Kalmykia President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and another two young men 16 and 24 years of age last weekend, a source with Kalmykia's law enforcement agencies told Regnum news agency.

The young men took part in street racing in a territory specially allocated by the Elista administration. Not far from there, the police officers were drinking alcohol, after which, while being off duty, they decided to check the young men's documents and their car's boot. David Ilyumzhinov gave his name and asked the police officers to let them go, but they beat them before letting them go.

After a while, the officers began to chase the young men. As a result, the latter's car turned upside down. In spite that the young men were hurt, the drunken police officers beat them again.

A criminal case under Part 3 of Article 286 of the Russian Criminal Code "Abuse of power" was opened, but the case may be re-qualified to allow for the condition of the victims. The young men have currently been admitted to the republican hospital.

Kalmykia's prosecutor Sergei Khlopushin told journalists on 25 May three criminal investigation officers had been detained, including the chief of criminal investigation, and a court had already authorised the arrest of one of them. The fourth police officer suspected of the beating was at the Volgograd Law Institute of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs at the moment.

Earlier this week, Kalmykia President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov addressed Russian Internal Affairs Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev with a request to dismiss republican Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Ponomariov, a source with the Kalmykia president's staff said.

Colonel-General Rashid Nurgaliyev had already issued an order reprimanding Colonel Vladimir Ponomariov for formal organisation of internal control of law enforcement agencies.

In his order No 317 Rashid Nurgaliyev noted that "defective practice of concealing crimes from registration and accounting in various divisions of the Internal Affairs Ministry of the Republic of Kalmykia has become systematic."